Comments (11)

Frighteningly enough, I happen to agree with the poster on the DU regarding the privatization of prisons. Not for the exact same reason as he does, but because I don’t believe the care and control of those subject to punishment under the law should be a profit driven enterprise in private hands. No good can come of that situation as it is too easy for politicians to overlook abuse they are not really responsible for under their watch. To privatize trash pickup, road maintenance, and bridge construction sure, that makes sense but not prisons. We already know that some corporate citizens don’t do well when not supervised closely. Much of our mortgage disaster had the government in cooperation with private enterprise for a poor outcome. Prisons are the same situation, not good in private hands.

VOV: can’t say I agree completely. As melle1228 points out, governments often screw things up as badly (or as worse) as private industry.

One can make a better argument that enforced incarceration is an “inherently governmental” function and should thus be performed by government. However, that’s open to debate, too. I’d agree that arrest and legal judgement are indeed inherently governmental. Not sure I’d agree that’s necessarily the case for post-sentence incarceration pursuant to a sentence pronounced by a court of law.

And yet the people so eager to bitch about these organizations somehow think turning over 1/6 of the economy to the same idiots will somehow make the healthcare system better, cheaper, more responsive, etc.

I just hope when it’s my time, I just have a heart attack or something and drop dead right there. Face it–I came into this world wet, naked, and screaming, and I intend to leave the same way.

@3 Understood, it just seems inherently incorrect in my head that a company makes a profit when there are more prisoners. It seems almost counter intuitive if the mission of prisons is to rehabilitate and reintegrate those individuals whose crimes will not incarcerate them for life. I do believe that mission for our prison system has failed miserably, and that most of the incarcerated who are returned to society have little support or opportunity to succeed because they were taught nothing except how to be a better predator while incarcerated. If prison corporations received a bonus for extremely low recidivism rates, along with early release bonuses for those on good behavior releases perhaps the motivation to educate and rehabilitate would have some traction.

Non-violent criminals who can be educated and trained with a real world job skill, even if requiring some additional support during the re-integration process will be a less costly drain on our society than those who are educated to continue their criminal activities.

I don’t see private companies whose profits are generated through warehousing ever increasing numbers of prisoners as a long term solution or benefit to the society at large. There was a case in one of the states where private prisons are used in which a judge was an investor in the prison company, needless to say a great many people were receiving prison terms for small offenses because the judge as an investor was making money off sending folks to prison. That situation would need to be monitored closely by the government if privatization continues to occur nationwide.

We’ll have to agree to disagree, VOV. I don’t see the primary mission of any prison as that of rehabilitation. Rather, I see the primary mission of a jail or prison as enhancing public safety by removing from society those who are a threat to that society. Rehabilitation is IMO a secondary consideration.

By the time folks end up in prison, IMO many have already proven themselves incorrigible via repeated offenses. The exceptions would be some of the non-violent first offenders. IMO that’s what minimum-security prisons are for.

We’ve seen how “rehabilitation” works. Sorry, if criminals are afraid of being caught, and KNOW they’re going to go to a very bad place if they do, and EXPECT to be caught if they commit a crime, that to be would be effective.

If maximum security prisons held folks who would never, ever get out I would be in compete agreement that they could be on permanent lockdown and never let the animals out of the cages….I could give a sh1t what happens to someone who is in prison without chance of parole for their actions.

My point is that in the case of the many criminals who are returned to society, for better or worse (mostly worse), our current system is deeply flawed. If we are not locking up some violent criminals for all eternity we need a more effective system is all. One that is privatized doesn’t suit that purpose, nor does the current government system.

We are probably not so far removed in concept as it seems. Thanks for reading and offering me some insight into additional considerations for this issue.

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We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »